Swash plate compressor for use in air conditioning system for vehicles



April 30, 1968 AKIRA NIKI E'r A1. 3,380,651

SWASH PLATE COMPRESSOR FOR USE IN AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES Filed May 2'?, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l Apnl 30, 1968 AKIRA NIKI ETAL S'NASH PLATE COMPRESSOR FOR USE IN AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES Filed May 27. 1966 United States Patent O SWASH PLATE COMPRESSOR FOR USE IN AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES Akira Niki, Kariya, Shz Nakayama, Chita-gun, and Masao Nakane, Kariya, Japan, assignors to Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd., Kariya, Japan Filed May 27, 1966, Ser. No. 553,371 2 Claims. (Cl. 230--178) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a swash plate type cornpressor for use in an air conditioning system for vehicles and the like.

An object of this invention is to provide 'a swash plate compressor for handling the gaseous refrigerant (such as CFZClz) coming from an evaporator of the air conditioning system, wherein any lubricant oil mixed with the gaseous refrigerant may be effectively separated, thereby maintaining good refrigeration efliciency of the air conditioning system. Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings,

FIGURE l is a longitudinal sectional view of the compressor constructed according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of a rear cylinder head housing;

FIGURE 3 is an end View thereof,

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the composite cylinder block employed in the compressor according to this invention; and

FIGURE 5 is a similar view of a conventional cylinder block employed in this type of compressor.

Referring to FIG. l, in which an embodiment of the present invention is shown, the reference numerals 1 and 2 denote a pair of cylindrical blocks each having three cylinder bores, the rear cylinder block 1 and the front cylinder block 2, being connected in series, as shown in FIG. 4, and enclosed in an outer cylindrical casing 3. It is to be understood that the section of the composite cylinder block 1-2 in FIGURE 1 is taken along line I-I of FIGURE 4 for the sake of convenience. 4 and 5 are valve plates, and 6 and 7 are cylinder head housings mounted at the ends of the pair of cylinder blocks 1 and 2, respectively. A drive shaft 8 is directly connected to the driving part of a vehicle engine. This drive shaft 8 carries a swash plate 9 securely mounted thereto. Both surfaces of the swash plate engage with pistons 10 through the intermediary of shoes 11 and a series of ball bearings 12.

In FIG. 5 there is shown an example of a composite cylinder block having three cylinder bores, with the casing and end plates omitted heretofore employed in the swash plate compressor of the same general type as that of the present invention. The cylinder block shown in FIG. 5 consists of the rear cylinder block 1' and the front cylinder block 2 connected in series, each block having three cylinder bores, into which the gaseous refrigerant returning from the evaporator is introduced directly or indirectly. The composite cylinder block 12 is provided with a suction channel A', and the gaseous refrigerant coming from an inlet port (not shown) in the casing (not shown) is introduced into the cylinder bores of the front cylinder block 2 through said suction channel A', so that the oil content is separated while passing through said suction channel. On the other hand, a part of the refrigerant gas is directly introduced into the cylinder bores 101 of the rear cylinder block 1', so that good oil separation cannot be expected. Consequently, the refrigerant gas delivered from the compressor unavoidably contains much lubricant oil, causing considerable drop of the refrigeration efficiency. The present invention aims to overcome such disadvantage by improving the arrangement of the said suction channel of the cylinder block and the rear cylinder head housing, as described below.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, according to this invention the composite cylinder block 1-2 has a longitudinally disposed suction channel or oil separating channel A which includes a channel 13 and deep depressions or chambers 14 and 15 on the opposite ends thereof, said suction channel being enclosed by the cylindrical casing 3, the rear valve plate 4 and the front valve plate 5 (FIG. l). Said chambers 14 and 15 are in communication with Ian oil sump 16 through partially circumferential passages 17 and 18, respectively. It must be understood that when the compressor is in the normal position, the channel 13 and chambers 14 and 15 are on the side of the compressor, not on the top as they appear to be in FIG. 4. The rear cylinder head housing 6 is provided with inlet channels 19 and 20, and also with an outlet channel 21, the latter being partitioned from the former by means of a partition wall 22. The outlet channel 21 is in communication with an outlet port 23 and the rear cylinder bores 101 through outlet valves 103 in valve plate 4. The iirst inlet 19 is in communication with an inlet port 24 and said suction channel A, and the second inlet channel 20 is in communication with the rear cylinder bores 101 through inlet valves 102 in the valve plate 4 as well as with the suction channel A. The inlet channels 19 and 20 are partitioned from each other by means of a partition wall 23. The dotted line representations of the cylinder bores 101, the valves 102 and 103, .and the passages 14a and 14b show the relationship of these parts to the channels in the cylinder head when the head is mounted on the compressor in the FIG. l position.

The deep depression or chamber 14 in the rear cylinder block 1 is divided into two passages 14a and 14b by means of a partition 25. Said two passages are so arranged that the passage 14a is in communication with the first inlet channel 19 of the rear cylinder head housing 6 while the passage 14b is in communication with the second inlet channel 20.

The operation of the invention is as follows: The gaseous refrigerant coming from the evaporator of the air conditioning system is returned to the compressor in the usual cycle of operation. Said returning refrigerant is introduced through the inlet port 24 into the first inlet channel 19, the incoming flow being represented by a dot, i.e. an arrow coming up out of the plane of the figure. As this inlet channel 19 is not in communication with the rear cylinder bores 101, all refrigerant is introduced through the first passage 14a into the chamber 14, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 4. Although the rear valve l plate 4 is not illustrated in detail, it is to be understood that said valve plate is provided with passages and appropriate inlet and outlet valves in alignment with both inlet channels 19, 20 in the rear cylinder head housing 6 and with said passages 14a and 14b of the rear cylinder block 1, respectively. The refrigerant introduced into the chamber 14 is divided into two streams, one proceeding through the suctionl channel A and the chamber 15 into the front cylinder bores as shown by the arrow (FIG. 4), and the remainder being turned back in the chamber 14 and proceeding through the second passage 14h into the rear cylinder bores 101, as shown by the arrows (FIG. 4), through the channel 20 (FIG. 3) and inlet valves 102. As the pistons 10 move toward the outer end of the bores, the compressed refrigerant is forced out through the outlet valves 103 and along channel 21 to the outlet port 23. Thus, the velocity of the stream of the refrigerant proceeding toward both rear and front cylinder bores is retarded in the chambers 14 and 15, whereby relatively heavy oil particles are separated therefrom by the action of gravity. Especially with respect to the refrigerant proceeding toward the cylinder head housing 6 of the rear cylinder block 1, it will be seen that the refrigerant irnpinges upon the partition wall 25 at the turning motion of the stream of refrigerant, and the separation of the oil particles will be assisted by the action of inertia. The lubricant oil thus separated will be returned to the oil sump 16 through the partially circumferential channels 17 and 18. The said partition wall 25 may be dispensed with, so that the returning refrigerant from the rst inlet channel 19 is introduced directly into the deep chamber 14 and thence into the rear cylinder bores 101 through the second inlet channel 20.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that according to the present invention the refrigerant gas delivered rfrom the compressor is cleansed of oil particles as completely as possible, thereby reducing the oil content to the minimum, thereby maintaining good refrigeration efficiency.

What we claim is:

1. A swash plate type compressor for use in an air conditioning system for vehicle and the like, comprising a pair of rear and front cylinder blocks connected in series to form a composite cylinder block, an outer Vcylindrical casing enclosing said cylinder blocks, a rear cylinder head housing and a front cylinder head housing disposed within opposite ends of said outer casing, valve plates interposed between said cylinder head housings and said cylinder blocks respectively, the composite cylinder block having a longitudinal oil separating channel having at opposite ends deep chambers, and the rear cylinder head housing having two inlet channels, of which the first inlet channel is in communication only with said oil separating channel in the cylinder block through the interposed valve plate and the second inlet channel is in communication with said oil separating channel as well as with the cylinder bores of the rear cylinder block through the interposed valve plate, said first inlet channel and the second inlet channel in the rear cylinder head housing being completely separate from each other.

2. A swash plate type compressor as recited in claim 1, wherein the deep chamber at the rear end of the composite cylinder block has a partition therein dividing said deep chamber into two passages, a first passage and a second passage, the first inlet channel opening into said iirst passage and the second passage opening into said second inlet channel and so arranged that the refrigerant gas coming from the first inlet channel in the rear cylinder head housing is fed into said first passage and a part of the refrigerant is turned back through the second passage and introduced into the cylinder bores of the rear cylinder block.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,227,055 5/1917 Kellogg 230--178 1,229,009 6/1917 Allison 2210-178 HENRY F. RADUAZO, Primary Examiner. 

